Confined Spaces
by grainia
Summary: It's the small things that make the biggest difference. Two people talk.
1. Chapter 1

**Confined Spaces**

Her head ached. She wasn't sure if it was because she hadn't slept in nearly four days, the constant stress or the grenade that went off a few feet from her. Maria Hill pressed the button for the elevator door and decided it was probably the grenade. She had been in combat before, but she couldn't remember ever having a grenade lobbed at her. The doors opened and she was relived to find the elevator empty. She didn't feel up to any small talk that might have occurred if someone was in the elevator.

She hit the button for her deck, closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. She hated this part the most, the sudden exhaustion after an adrenaline rush. It was when she was the most vulnerable and she was glad no one had seen it. Almost no one, she amended. Director Fury, with his one omniscient eye, must have seen the exhaustion in her face when he ordered her off the bridge to rest. She argued at first, the world had just literally been saved a few hours before and there were still ton of things that needed to be done. But he just stared down at her in a way that left no room for argument, until finally she acquiesced. The second shift of the bridge crew was already coming in and after a few instructions and a final glare from Fury, she left.

She felt the elevator slow and, marshaled what was left of her strength for the long walk to her cabin. She was dismayed to see that the numbers didn't match up to the button she pushed and squared her shoulders as the doors opened to admit another rider. Large blue clad shoulders and a bowed blond head greet her eyes. She felt her stomach tighten the same way it did when she first saw him stride wide eyed on the bridge a few days ago, the way it always seemed to when he was around. He looked up after a moment and their eyes connected across the small space between them. She felt her stomach tighten more. He hesitated, shifting a brown bag from one hand to another and plunged into the elevator with nod and a quick "Agent Hill."

She managed to respond with a professional "Sir" while inwardly cursing herself for her apparent weakness towards this man. They had met shortly after he had woken up from his ice coma during one of his many welcome to the 21th century debriefings. The second thing she noticed about him was that he was unerringly polite to everyone. The first thing she noticed was his blue eyes and the way his hand engulfed hers when he shook her hand. He faced away from her and pressed the elevator button, his shoulders bunching under his suit as he did. She quickly looked away; she must really be tired if that was all it took to send exceptionally naughty thoughts through her head.

She heard him turn and she lifted her eyes to meet his again. He just opened his mouth to say something when the elevator lurched to a halt and went black. Her hand shot out to steady herself on the wall at the abrupt movement. The dim orange emergency light flicker on and he was at her side in an instant.

"Are you alright?" concern evident in his voice as he reached a large hand out on her shoulder to steady her.

"I'm fine." She answered briskly. She pushed away from him and the wall and reached for the walkie she had on her side.

"Agent Hill to bridge." She paused for a reply, while a small chant of 'no no no' began to repeat in her head.

"Bridge here." An unfamiliar voice responded.

"I'm in elevator," she glanced to elevator information page taped to the wall, "2B with Captain Rogers. It just stopped and the emergency lights just kicked in. Is there any maintenance scheduled for this unit?"

"One moment please, Ma'am." Agent Hill sighed in frustration as she waited and glanced over at the broad shouldered man. His head was down again and he rubbed the back of his neck with one gloved hand. He looked tired and she wondered if super soldiers even got tired. Her musings were interrupted by the static of the walkie as the voice on the other ended returned.

"No, Ma'am. We've been having some intermittent power failure because of that virus from earlier." Fucking Hawkeye and his goddamn trick arrows, she thought as the voice continued. "There is a maintenance team on your way to see if they can get you two out. Meanwhile IT is working on the virus."

"Roger that, keep me informed. Hill out." She dropped her walkie back into the holder and stood with her hands on her hips debating her options. She saw him lean against the wall.

"Are you hungry Agent Hill?"

She turned to face him fully confusion in her eyes. He hastened to continue. "Well, it's just, we might be in here awhile and the others and I got some Shawarma after Loki was locked up and I thought maybe you might like some while we wait." He rambled and held the brown bag up as if to prove he wasn't joking. "It's actually not that bad."

"No thank you. I could use some help getting these doors open, however." She motioned over to the closed elevator doors. "No offense sir, but being stuck in an elevator isn't exactly the way I envisioned the next few hours. Hopefully we're not in between floors."

"Good idea." He said and put his shawarma on the floor.

"I can get this side, if you can get the other." She said as she wedged her fingers into the cracks of the door.

"Agent Hill." She paused and looked up at him.

"I'm sorry, but it might be faster if I do it alone." He said sheepishly. The latent feminist in her was about to argue that she was just as strong as him until she remembered. "Right. Super strength." She said and moved away from the door.

Ten seconds later they stood side by side and stared at a blank wall with a 6 inch opening at the top that lead up to the floor above and freedom. "Well at least we'll get some fresh air." He said.

She let out a frustrated sigh and walked to the back of the elevator and sat down, her head pounding. She felt his eyes on her and looked up at him. He turned away for a second, glancing up at the gap before looking back down at her.

"I, uh, I'm sorry about Agent Coulson." He said softly as he stood in the middle of the elevator. She nodded, looking away. Shit, she didn't want to talk about this. "He seemed like a good man." Why was he still talking about this? "Did you know him well?" Anger welled up and she was about to tell him to shut the fuck up already, before she saw his down cast eyes and slumped shoulders. That was the third thing she noticed about him, his empathy.

"Well enough." She said after she tightened her jaw and pushed the anger down. "And he was a good man, well good enough I suppose." She continued after a pause. He cocked his head to the side and came to sit next to her not touching. "What do you mean?"

She was momentarily side tracked as she watched his thighs bunch under the skintight fabric as he crossed his he crossed his ankles and she missed Phil Coulson that much more. She would never get the chance to say thank you for this particular suit arrangement.

"Well, it's just that nothing is black and white. No one is all good or all bad." She paused and rolled her eyes at herself. "I must be tired if I'm talking philosophy." She leaned her head back on the wall and closed her eyes, hoping to fight off the head ache.

"I get what you're saying, but I think people tend to steer more towards one side or the other." He said and she opened her eyes to find him gazing at her thoughtfully. Ah, he was an optimist. Unsurprising, really.

"That may be true, but then there's always the point of view to consider." She crossed her arms and sat up a little straighter, warming to the conversation.

"What do you mean?" He said again and matched her position.

She paused and tried to find the right way to explain it and suddenly remembered his comment about flying monkeys. "Well take the Wicked Witch of the West, for instance." She gestured with and an open palm, head ache momentarily forgotten. "From a certain point of view she wasn't all that bad."

"Wait, wait, wait." He put up his own palm and turned to face her more fully. "I saw that movie. She was chasing Dorothy throughout the whole thing, plus she had an evil army of flying monkeys and green trolls."

She looked over at his outraged expression and for the first time in a long time she felt like smiling. "Yes, but that was after Dorothy refuse to give up the witch's dead sister's shoes. A sister who was only dead, I might add, because Dorothy dropped a house on her. I might be a little upset too."

He pressed his lips together for a moment and she was side tracked again. "You can't blame Dorothy for killing he sister. That was the cyclone's doing."

Optimist, she thought. "You really need to see Wicked, or better yet read the book."

"What book?"

"I keep forgetting the ice coma." She said to herself. "There's a book and a Broadway musical called 'Wicked.' It's from the Witch's point of view and she's the good guy."

He turned away and crossed his arms again. "I find it hard to believe."

Maria shrugged. "Believe what you want, Captain. But it's actually a pretty good musical."

"Steve."

"What?" She asked confused and he looked over at her with his blue eyes.

"Call me Steve, at least while we're trapped down here."

"I don't know if I can do that." She said wide eyed. What was going on?

He nodded and looked away with a sad smile. "That's fine. Not too many people want to talk to Steve anymore just Captain America."

There was something wistful in his voice and she wanted badly to say something to make it go away, but she couldn't think of what.

"Sir, Ma'am? You guys okay down there?" A voice said from the gap.

Maria snapped back into command mode and stood to talk to the tech above about the best way out. After a few moments she came back to sit dejectedly next to the captain. Another hour at least until she could get a shower.

"I'm sorry." He said, overhearing the conversation.

"Why? It's not your fault." She said with her head back and eyes closed.

"Yeah, but you might be out already had this happened with any of the others."

She looked over at him, her head ache making her response come out short. "What are you talking about?

"Well, Banner or Stark would probably have this 'virus' thing fixed by now, Thor and Clint could have blown a hole into the side…"

"Wait." She rubbed her eyes as she cut him off. "Banner would have gone ape shit and killed me by now, I would have gone ape shit and killed Stark by now. Thor would've killed be from the concessive blast and I'd be in the same predicament if either Barton or Romanov were here. I really don't need a super hero to get out of every jam I get into. So don't start feeling sorry yourself." She stopped and looked at the shocked expression on his face. Then she remembered that ladies didn't talk like the way she did in his time.

"I'm sorry, sir. I'm not feeling well." She said, tightening her jaw again, hoping to get back the professionalism that seemed to have fled her.

"No, no. It's okay." He said. "I've just never seen you so..."

"Bitchy?"

"Animated." He finished with a smile. She snorted and leaned back again.

"Not a fan of heroes?" He asked lightly. She kept her head back and looked at him.

"I'm not a fan of relying on a small group of people with dangerous abilities."

He nodded and reached for his brown bag. "It's a good thing I'm not a hero right now then." He opened the bag and the aroma of spiced meat came spilling out making her stomach growl. "Nope I'm just a guy trapped in an elevator with a hungry girl offering her a bag of shawarma." He reached the open bag to her and nodded. She licked her lips and took the bag.

"See, I'd take a regular guy over a super hero any day. " She said as she dug in. "I doubt any of the others would have brought food." _Or would have been as fun to look at_, she said to herself.

Ten minutes later they sat beside each other again, with an empty bag between them.

"So Stark said he would loan me a motorcycle."

"What's in California?"

"Nothing. I've just never been there before." He said as if that would explain everything.

"At least bring a phone with you for emergencies. It's not as safe as it used to be." She said as she brushed of the last of the crumbs of shawarma off her shirt.

"Yeah about that." He said and reached into one of his pouches producing an iPhone. "Stark got it for me, but I'm not even sure how to turn it on."

She rolled her eyes and took it from his hand, moving the empty bag and scooting closer so he could see. "Hold this button on top to turn it off and on. Press the home button here to light it up, swish this to unlock it. The green icon with the receiver is the phone, just tap it and go to the keypad or contacts to call a number. Let's see, what else. Oh, the GPS might be helpful for you."

She looked up to see if he understood, but he wasn't looking at the screen he was looking at her. Their eyes locked and for a moment all she could see was blue eyes and all she could smell was his sweat and her shawarma remnants. And she was more than fine with that. She lowered the phone down as he leaned in closer.

The lights flickered on and the elevator jolted to a start causing them to head butt each other.

"Ouch." She said mildly, the moment broken.

"I'm sorry. You okay?" He said as he stood. She waived his outstretched hand away as and pushed herself up.

"I'm fine. I guess they got it started ahead of schedule."

"Yeah." He responded and they stood in awkward silence until the elevator stopped much gentler this time at her deck.

"I'll walk you to your room." He said and began to walk with her.

"I'm fine, you don't have to."

"I know. I want to."

She stopped and turned to him to argue. "Sir."

He smiled, gently turned her around. "I was raised to escort a lady to her door after a date."

She stopped again, feeling her stomach tighten again. "This was not a date, sir."

He shrugged. "It's the closest thing I've had to a date 50 years, Agent Hill."

She pondered this for a moment, then shrugged and continued down the gangway to her room. She almost said it was the best date she'd ever had but didn't want to sound unprofessional or desperate. She glanced over at the suddenly shy man walking with her, then down at the iPhone still in her hand. What the hell, she thought. The man needed all the help he could get and she put her contact information into the phone.

"This is it." She as they came up to her door.

"Thank you for a good time." He smiled again at her keeping up the date charade. She shook her head and handed him his phone. "Here. I put my number in contacts tab just in case you get lost or Stark's mechano-bike suddenly gets a mind of its own and leaves you stranded somewhere."

He looked down at the phone in his hand then back up to her. "Thanks, Agent Hill."

"Maria." She said softly as she unlocked and opened her door.

"What?"

"My contact information is under the name Maria." She said and turned towards him in the darkened doorway.

"Oh, okay." He said somewhat disappointed looking down at the phone again and she stepped in the room a little further.

"I'll see you later,… Steve." She said hesitantly.

She almost heard his neck crack from how fast he snapped it up to look at her. She wasn't sure what he saw, but whatever it was made him smile so big that she couldn't help her own lips from curling up a little for a moment, before she got them under control.

"Yeah, I'll see you later Maria." He said, still smiling.

She nodded and gently closed the door. Then turned and leaned against the closed door and did something she hadn't done in a very long time. She let herself smile, big and bold. And then she took a shower.


	2. Chapter 2

Clint Barton nestled into a dark corner when he heard the footsteps coming. At the aft end of the Helicarrier there was a little break in the bulkhead that reminded him of a long narrow window. The ledge it created started about 3 feet off the deck and the 6 inch wide slit ended about a foot from the top. He thought I might have something to do with ventilation, because it let sea air in. Either that or it was a massive oversight in engineering, because as far has he could tell it only opened up when the ship was afloat, not it hover mode. As a result of it being crammed behind some pipes, tiny and hardly ever open no one else knew about the fresh air and amazing view it offered. Well almost no one else, he amended if the approaching footsteps were anything to go by.

It had been a hell of a day. Doombots. What kind of narcissistic A-hole names war robots after himself? It didn't matter; by the end of the skirmish both SHEILD and Victor Von Doom had suffered casualties and called a truce. Battered and bruised, Clint just wanted the peace a solace the little nook in metal offered. He just hoped that whoever was approaching would leave soon and he could look out over the horizon and mourn those that fell in peace.

Clint wasn't too surprised to see Maria Hill step up to the gap and take a deep breath of sea air. If anyone knew this ship better than him it would be her. She was arguably having a worse day than him. Fighting with the dead and dying scattered around was bad, but ordering people into the fight knowing they would die had to be worse. But with Fury out of commission thanks to a lucky shot, she stepped up and did just that. He wasn't sure if he would've been able to do it, but maybe that's why he wasn't in command.

With the slump of her shoulders and the bow of her head he knew she was feeling the weight of her decisions. Clint argued with himself briefly. Should he try to talk to her or should he slip away and leave her to her grief? He didn't know the woman well, but he did know she was a fine solider and sometimes even a solider needed to talk. Still, he wasn't a Chaplin. He didn't know what to say to her.

She startled suddenly and reached into her pocket pulling out a vibrating phone. She spun away from the window to face the dark corner of pipes where he had huddled and leaned back against the ledge the small opening created. Her eyes were staring intently on the phone still buzzing in her hand.

He watched her bite her lip as her finger hovered over the accept button and he suddenly felt like a creeper. He could man up, step out and endure the mutual embarrassment for a second then apologize and leave. But if she would just turn around he could slip by, leave her to her possible personal phone call and spare them both that particular awkwardness. The greeting to her caller after she finally hit accept paused his movement.

"Hello, Captain Rogers."

Her tone was professional and polite, but it was the tiny bit of red that flushed up her neck that made him curious and rooted him to his spot. Was Captain America calling her? The good Captain wasn't involved in today's altercation and as far as Clint knew there weren't any other captains littering SHEILD with the name Rogers. He hadn't heard anything about Captain America and Hill trading more than a few words to each other since the Loki incident. Obviously he missed something if he had her phone number. He bet Natasha had the dirt on these two and if she didn't he'd have fun holding this bit of info over her head.

"Fury took a shot to the gut and is in sickbay along with 16 wounded and 6 dead and you want to know if _I'm_ okay?" Hill said angrily.

There was a pause as the man at the other end spoke and her shoulders slumped.

"I know." She sighed into the phone.

She was quite again and something the man on the other end of the line said had her put one hand on her hip defensively and turned her mouth in to a hard line. Clint really hated hearing only half of a conversation.

"Because it was something we could handle on our own. We don't always need superheroes to do our work for us." She stopped suddenly, a muscle in her jaw clenched and she shook her head.

"Sorry." She sighed and brought her hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Bad day. I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

"Yeah well, you shouldn't have to." She said so quietly that Clint nearly lost the words in the wind. Should have to what? Man, he really, really hated half of a conversation.

Her nose scrunched up as she moved her free hand up to her ear and turned her head slightly away from the wind. "Where are you? What's that in the background?"

Her hand dropped from her ear and her eyebrows went up. "You'll be staying at the tower? Is that a good idea?"

This was news to Clint. The last time he visited Stark Tower Tony had an entire floor dedicated to the Avenger's personal use. Clint had quickly taken a room across from Natasha, Banner took up space near the lab and Jane Foster had claimed a spot for Thor for whenever he got back from dealing with Loki. But as far as he knew Rogers hadn't claimed an area yet. He was wrong again and for some reason it was starting to bother him.

"Okay." She said resigned and she began chewing on her lip again. The quick snorted laugh that came from her a moment later surprised Clint. She was usually so stoic and professional that he wasn't sure if she even knew how to smile, let alone laugh. Even now when she thought she was alone, he saw her force the small smile that escaped back down. _Good for you Captain_, Clint thought. This lady needed to smile more.

"Did Captain America just ask me what I was wearing?" She said with only a slight bit of laughter in her voice. Well, at least his earlier suspicion of the caller's identity was confirmed. Clint offered a prayer to whatever deities were listening that he would never ever again indulge in his curiosity so long as this phone call would please not turn into what it sounded like it might turn into.

"Don't listen to anything Stark says."

Still, Clint thought, if he hadn't indulged this one time he would have missed the stunning smile that just briefly escaped her. Clint Barton may be smitten with a black widow, but he could still appreciate a beautiful woman and it sounded like Steve Rogers could as well.

She wiped her hand across her face as if to erase the evidence of amusement. "No. Ask Stark."

She looked up to the support beams searching for guidance from above, when his response came. "It..it's..." She stuttered and Clint almost laughed out loud at her obvious discomfort. "Oh, God." She started again, the flush creeping up her neck again. She stood up straight and Clint could see her fortify herself. "It's the universal begging for phone sex."

Clint had to actually bite his check to stop from laughing. He was pretty sure they had phones in the forties. Did the Captain really not know about this stuff or was he just screwing with her? Then he remembered seeing a picture of Steve Rogers before the serum and he was sure that the man just had no idea about this kind of thing.

She seemed confused for a second. "What? No, no phones can't do that. It's people talking to each other about it. Then there's usually," She waved her free hand absently in the area of her breast. "self-touch...Look." She stopped, the red flush coloring her cheeks. "Maybe you should just ask Stark or Google it."

The hand that was hovering over her chest went to her forehead and she sighed at his response. "I know."

A few seconds later Clint saw every muscle in her tense and he wondered what Rogers had said to induce the sudden change.

"I don't know." She said, her voice strained and paused to listen again. Then suddenly as if a weight had been lifted she relaxed and leaned back onto the ledge.

"I'll think about it. It has been awhile since I've seen Wicked, but it wouldn't be a date." She hastened to add.

Clint smirked, yeah right. Taking a girl out to see a show is exactly what you did on date, at least it's what you did in the forties. He marveled for a moment at what he just witnesses: Maria Hill asked out by Captain America. Strange day.

The walkie attached to her side suddenly crackle to life causing both occupants of the room to jump a little. *Lt. Hill?*

"Hang on Steve." She said into her phone as she grappled the walkie loose. Clint had a sudden vision of Captain America out in the world somewhere with a big goofy grin on his face from her offhanded use of his first name. She brought the walkie up and pressed the phone that still held Rogers to her breast. Clint couldn't help but wonder if this was as close as Steve Rogers had ever gotten to second base.

"Hill here. Go." She said, the mask of command slipping easily into voice and her face.

*Director Fury is awake and is requesting a status report*

Clint was relieved that the director was okay, but he was quite sure that the 'request' for a report was more likely a barked out order. He knew the man after all.

"Roger that. I'll be there in 5." Hill said, dropping the walkie back to her belt and bring up the phone back to her ear.

"Fury's up. I need to go." She said in a voice that was half way between her command tone and the relaxed tone she had a few seconds ago. Clint understood that switching out of soldier mode was hard for her to do. Hell, it was hard for all of them.

"Right." He saw her hesitate for a second. Then in a calm and professional voice. "I'm wearing my uniform with the top two buttons down." She hung up and strode out of the area without waiting for a reply.

Clint Barton was smiling as he emerged from the darkness a few seconds later. There were two things he knew then. One: he would tell no one of what he just heard. It was no one's business and the story may make him sound like a weirdo stalking in the shadows. And two: Maria Hill had all of her uniform buttons up. _You go girl._


	3. Chapter 3

**I wrote this one first. The only reason I wrote the first two was so this one would make some sense to everyone else.**

Steve Rogers felt exhausted. Not physically of course, he doubted he would ever really feel that again, but totally mentally drained. The Avengers saved the world again and while the others gathered together to celebrate he just wanted a shower and maybe to see her. He walked down the gangway in the helicarrier to his temporary room to change. Maybe he could go on vacation, Hawaii, maybe. He wondered what she would look like in a swimsuit. He smiled to himself, they may have seen a show together and talked a few times on the phone, but he doubted would ever be able to convince Maria Hill into a bikini.

He let himself remember their date, well at least he thought of it as a date. She insisted it was just two colleagues who happen to see a Broadway show. But, they sat together, he bought her a green keychain that said Wicked during intermission and he even with a little persistence on his part walked her home. In his day that was a date and good one too. He remembered the slight curl of her lips as he exclaimed his delight of the show as they walked to the subway. He remembered the surprise on her face when he slipped the key chain into her palm as they stood outside her door. She tried to give it back murmuring something about fraternization to but he refused to take it. It was just a keychain, not an engagement ring, and besides he wasn't an official part of SHIELD. It couldn't be fraternization if he didn't work for them, he reminded her. He remembered the way she gripped the keychain and turn to the door. He remembered cursing himself for being an idiot and saying too much. Mostly he remembered the way she spun around, kissed his cheek, whispered thank you and hurried through the door.

"Captain!"

Steve stopped in the gangway, his thoughts interrupted and turned to see Director Fury striding confidently towards him. Maria followed quietly in his wake. The two men shook hands and Steve glanced over at her. Her shoulders were ridged and her hands were clasped behind her back as she scanned him up and down. When her eyes finally hit his, the little muscle in her jaw twitched the way it did when she was angry and he knew that something was wrong.

"Just the man I need to see." Director Fury said almost jovially to him.

Steve eyed the man warily. "Why?"

"Well, you see," Fury began as he clapped a hand on his back and began to steer the Captain back in the direction where he came. Steve glanced at Maria again as he allowed the director to maneuver him past her, she stared at Fury coldly. "I just got off the phone with the President and..."

"Of the United States?" Steve interrupted surprised and then admonished himself for sounding like an awestruck little boy.

"Yes." Fury continued. "And he wants to talk to you."

"Me? Why?" Steve said as he followed Fury down the gangway, aware of a surly Maria following behind them.

"Why? With this summer's Loki escapade and this most recent adventure you're the hero of the hour."

They stopped in front of the elevators and Steve ran a hand through his hair tiredly. He should be used to all the hero stuff by now, but it still made him uncomfortable. He was just doing what others would if they could.

"Sir, I still think it would be better to wait until the morning. Captain Rogers must be exhausted." Maria said from beside him. He looked over at her and gave her a small smile of thanks. She looked at his face and he thought he saw a flicker of concern. He must ready look terrible.

"Nonsense." Fury waved them into the elevator as the doors opened. "It will only take a few minutes and it's best to get it over with now."

"What about the others? I wasn't the only one out there today." Steve asked as he stepped to the back of the elevator. He felt Maria slide in to stand beside him. Fury hit the button and turned to face the door hands behind his back.

"I'm sure the President will want to speak with them soon, but he wants to speak with you now." Fury stated, and then launched into the intricacies of politics, funds and tele-confercing.

Steve sighed and rolled his shoulders, trying to relieve the sudden tension. He should be excited to speak with the President of the United States and if it were any other day he would be. He just wasn't sure if he could face a doubtlessly pointless conversation filled with thank you's and promises right now. He felt a sudden feather light pressure on his fingers and glanced down to see Maria's pinkie and ring finger of her left hand grapple with his index finger. He looked up to her face as she stared resolutely ahead at Fury's back. The silent show of support squeezed the air out of his chest and fortified him. He turned back to watch Fury's back as she was doing and squeezed her fingers gently in thank you, suddenly glad he had the chance to take his gloves off.

The elevator came to a halt and she quickly disengaged her fingers from his. He missed their warmth immediately. Steve followed the two shield agents down a corridor he had never been and into a dark room. Fury gestured for Steve to stand at a small raised stage area surrounded by a podium of monitors with blinking lights and he felt a little claustrophobic. Maria walked into a little room off the side and Steve heard the spray of water for a moment. She returned and stepped up onto the tiny stage with him as Fury began to have an agitated phone conversation.

"Turn around." She said quietly with her hand on his arm. He did and found himself about a foot from her. _Too far, _he thought.

"Let's get you cleaned up." She said as she began to wipe the grime from his face. "Can't have Captain America looking dirty when he talks to the President, can we?"

He grinned at her attempt at a joke and said "Admit it you just wanted to touch Captain America." She stopped wiping the dirt off his jaw and looked up into his smiling eyes with a start. He thought he might have overstepped some line for a second until he saw her eyes soften a bit. His right hand drifted unthinkingly to her hip and she opened her mouth to make what he was sure would be a scathing comment on superheroes.

"Two minutes, Cap." Fury said as he punched the end button on his phone.

The two flinched away from each other and Steve was glad the room was dark enough to hide the blush on his face. Though he didn't know why he should be embarrassed, except maybe for the fact that he completely forgotten Fury was in the room. He looked over at Maria and saw her studying the floor. Maybe she forgot about him too. Why the thought pleased him was beyond him.

"Okay," Fury said as Steve turned back to the podium. "Just keep it simple. Yes sir, no sir. Well, you know what to do." He waived dismissively at him. "Agent Hill and I will be right outside. Good luck."

"Thank you." Steve said stood a little taller as the monitors in front of him began to flicker on. Fury strode out the door with Maria close behind him.

"Wait." She said at the door way and Steve turned to see her step back up to him, Fury nowhere in sight. She reached towards his face and for a brief heart pounding second he thought she was going to kiss him, before she pulled his cowl up over his head.

"The president wants to see Captain America." She said by way of explanation and he smiled a small sad smile, looking away. Of course he did. Her fingers lingered on his cheek and he look back up. Was it his imagination or did a hint of playfulness glimmer in her eyes. "For the record, I didn't want to touch Captain America." Her mouth twitched with a smile as he stared dumbly down at her. "I wanted to touch Steve Rogers."

Her fingers trailed across his lips before she spun and strode towards the door.

"Why do you always get the last word in?" He called out to her.

"Habit." She said over her shoulder as she disappeared through the door. She did it again, he thought as he shook his head and smiled.

"Captain America?"

"Uh." Steve blinked. What was he doing? Oh, right the President of the United States wanted to talk to him. He turned back around to face the older man on the monitors before him. "I'm sorry, Sir."

"That's quite alright, son. You've had a trying day. How are you doing?" The President asked with genuine concern.

"I'm good, sir." Steve said his lips tingled where she touched them and smiled. "Really good."


End file.
